Which cross top levers?

tgotb

I need to get a set of cross top levers; anyone have suggestions on which ones to go for?

If it makes any difference, they're going to be used with SRAM levers, driving a TRP Parabox hydraulic converter. Setting up the Parabox is a bit finicky at the best of times, so I'd prefer to avoid anything which is going to make that substantially harder!

ugo.santalucia

They are all the same... a pair of Tektro is as good as any

devhads

I had Cane Creek ones on my son's bike, but as above probably all the same. Cane Creek do carbon ones though that save a few grams.

Is this for 3PCX? I was considering getting cross top levers, I was also considering a dropper post, for the descents.

tgotb

devhads wrote:

I had Cane Creek ones on my son's bike, but as above probably all the same. Cane Creek do carbon ones though that save a few grams.

Is this for 3PCX? I was considering getting cross top levers, I was also considering a dropper post, for the descents.

Ah, I hadn't spotted you on the entry list! Yes, it's for 3PCX.

I was talking to someone yesterday who'd used a dropper seatpost; he reckoned it was well worthwhile. I'm definitely going try it out; the one on my MTB will fit. Guess it's just a matter of justifying the extra 350 grams...

VamP

How come everyone gets a ride at 3px, except me?

To be fair, I didn't actually apply this year.

TonyJams

VamP wrote:

How come everyone gets a ride at 3px, except me?

To be fair, I didn't actually apply this year.

And me
To be fair I didnt actually do any training this year!

roger_merriman

TGOTB wrote:

devhads wrote:

I had Cane Creek ones on my son's bike, but as above probably all the same. Cane Creek do carbon ones though that save a few grams.

Is this for 3PCX? I was considering getting cross top levers, I was also considering a dropper post, for the descents.

Ah, I hadn't spotted you on the entry list! Yes, it's for 3PCX.

I was talking to someone yesterday who'd used a dropper seatpost; he reckoned it was well worthwhile. I'm definitely going try it out; the one on my MTB will fit. Guess it's just a matter of justifying the extra 350 grams...

I've had cross levers on two previous bikes, they are great for rolling though traffic, but being close to the stem its a fairly twitchy braking postion, For steep and technical they wouldn't be my choice of hand positions, being a old MTBer I tend to be happiest in the hoods for such stuff, much better since I put better pads so the rim brakes make a passable attempt at working!

devhads

VamP wrote:

How come everyone gets a ride at 3px, except me?

To be fair, I didn't actually apply this year.

I was very surprised to get a ride. I was the only one, out of the four of us in the club who'd applied, to get in.

Training has been slow to start so far. A few good walks in the Peak District this week encouraged me in that my hill walking legs are feeling good after a few years out of the game.

I think I'll eschew the dropper post and go for a quick release instead. I figure stopping and lowering the post 3 times is worth it in terms of time to do and weight/money saved.

VamP

devhads wrote:

VamP wrote:

How come everyone gets a ride at 3px, except me?

To be fair, I didn't actually apply this year.

I was very surprised to get a ride. I was the only one, out of the four of us in the club who'd applied, to get in.

Training has been slow to start so far. A few good walks in the Peak District this week encouraged me in that my hill walking legs are feeling good after a few years out of the game.

I think I'll eschew the dropper post and go for a quick release instead. I figure stopping and lowering the post 3 times is worth it in terms of time to do and weight/money saved.

It seems like everyone I know who's applied this year got a ride. Clearly not as your example highlights. Anyway, good luck and enjoy!

Giraffoto

I've a friend who has a Hope V-Twin brake set (similar arrangement to TRP Parabox) and he uses Jagwire segmented cable outer to get the brake cable through the tight turns that it needs. It might be worth considering for the even tighter turns that cross top levers will call for, and will save one or two of the grams that you've added

tgotb

Giraffoto wrote:

I've a friend who has a Hope V-Twin brake set (similar arrangement to TRP Parabox) and he uses Jagwire segmented cable outer to get the brake cable through the tight turns that it needs. It might be worth considering for the even tighter turns that cross top levers will call for, and will save one or two of the grams that you've added

Thanks. I've used Nokon cables for this in the past; most of the rest of the cabling on my CX bikes uses Nokon, because it gives the opportunity to run a continuous liner between cable stops, which keeps the muck out. The cabling for this one is particularly awkward because I'm using both crosstop levers and a Parabox. In this case, it actually turned out to be easier to use conventional cable in a slightly exagerrated loop. One of the issue with segmented cables where I've found you have to be careful, is where the outer goes through a tight turn and also moves (as it will with crosstop levers). This creates wear points in the liner at the end of each segment, which cause a quite rapid deterioration in performance.

The other change I've made for my 3pcx bike is gearing; I now have a 34T single chainring and 11-36 cassette. This gives me mentally low 25" gearing for the PyG climb, and a top gear of 83", which is only marginally lower than my track bike. Keeps the weight down, because I don't need to fit a front mech and I can still use a short cage mech. I did a fair bit of road riding on it last week and it was pretty comfortable at 27mph, which should be more than enough.

Curleyboy

Is it possible to have these types of levers added/fitted to a full hydraulic setup?

ugo.santalucia

Curleyboy wrote:

Is it possible to have these types of levers added/fitted to a full hydraulic setup?

No

Giraffoto

Curleyboy wrote:

Is it possible to have these types of levers added/fitted to a full hydraulic setup?

Not yet, but maybe soon. In time for next year's season if you're lucky.

tgotb

Giraffoto wrote:

Curleyboy wrote:

Is it possible to have these types of levers added/fitted to a full hydraulic setup?

Not yet, but maybe soon. In time for next year's season if you're lucky.

Blimey, that has to be the most niche product ever. From what I saw, a good chunk of the riders in this year's 3 Peaks haven't even bothered to switch from cantis to disks (and probably won't, any time soon, because of the amount invested in their wheels).

I can see the benefit of doing a one-off, to showcase their engineering skills, but what size production run are they thinking of? 50???